Online advertising campaign controller to orchestrate allocation of ads

Abstract

Ad segments on a Web page are filled with ads that are served by a service provider operating between a user computer and publisher on one end and multiple ad serving entities on the other. The ads include those served by publisher ad server and also real time bidding. An offline campaign controller orchestrates the allocation of guaranteed and real time bidding by monitoring performance of the direct sold campaigns and generating updates to targeting parameters of UOE ad campaign and rules for an edge server. When a direct sold campaign is on track, the updates on UOE campaign permits an ad segment to be considered for real time bidding.

1 . A method of holistically serving an ad to an ad segment on a Web page being viewed by a user, the method comprising:
 monitoring, at an offline controller, the on-time schedule indicator (OSI) of a direct sold campaign in at least one guaranteed ad server wherein the direct sold campaign has a guaranteed number of impressions at a guaranteed price;   generating, at the offline controller, updates to configuration targeting parameters of the ad campaign in the at least one guaranteed ad server; and   generating, at the offline controller, updates to rules and campaign data for an edge server to determine whether to send an impression of an ad segment for real time bidding based on the OSI;   wherein if the guaranteed ad campaign is on track, updates are generated by the offline controller to consider the ad segment for real time bidding; and   wherein the if the guaranteed ad campaign is not on track, the ad segment is served via the at least one guaranteed ad server;   wherein the offline controller is not part of the edge server; and   wherein the offline controller is not part of the at least one guaranteed ad servers.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting a real time bidding floor to be at least equal or higher than a price per ad of the direct sold campaign. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the offline controller comprises a separate server operating offline from the edge server and the at least one guaranteed ad server. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein if the campaign is not on track one or more parameters are updated to serve the ad segment via the at least one guaranteed ad servers. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the controller uses an API to configure information in the at least one guaranteed ad server, including updating targeting parameters for the ad segment. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ad segment of the Web page is tagged with a optimization tag for a campaign and the optimization tag further determines parameters of the real time bidding. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the offline controller generates updates for a real time bidding engine associated with the edge server to consider the ad segment for real time bidding. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the offline controller configures geographic targeting of the campaign based on the OSI of other applicable direct sold campaigns based on geographic location associated with the user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a direct sold campaign has a campaign name, number of impressions, budget, targeting parameters, geographic parameters, browser, OS, and device types. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting a real time bidding floor to be at least equal or higher than the direct sold campaign. 
     
     
         11 . A method for holistic ad serving in a network environment having individual users viewing one or more web pages published by a publisher, a publisher ad server network, an edge server, and an ad server supporting real time bidding, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a controller of an offline server, data from one or more guaranteed ad servers indicative of whether or not a direct sold advertising campaign is on track along with campaign targeting information, wherein the direct sold advertising campaign has a guaranteed number of impressions at a guaranteed price;   generating, by the controller of the offline server, updates to targeting parameters for the guaranteed ad servers for real time bidding campaign based on whether the direct sold advertising campaign is on track;   generating, by the controller of the offline server, updates and rules to instruct an edge server to send impressions for real time bidding if the direct sold advertising campaign is on track;   receiving impressions at the edge server from web pages published by a publisher, and   deciding, at the edge server, whether to submit the impression for real time bidding or to a guaranteed ad server associated with the direct sold advertising campaign;   wherein the controller is not part of the edge server; and   wherein the controller is not part of the one or more guaranteed ad servers.   
     
     
         12 . A method for holistic ad serving in a network environment having individual users viewing one or more web pages published by a publisher, a publisher ad server network, an edge server, an ad server supporting real time bidding, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the edge server, updates to rule and campaign from an offline campaign controller monitoring an on-schedule indicator (OSI) of one or more guaranteed ad servers indicative of whether or not a direct sold advertising campaign is on track, wherein the direct sold advertising campaign has a guaranteed number of impressions at a guaranteed price;   receiving impressions at the edge server;   making a decision, by the edge server, whether to: 1) pass an impression to the one or more guaranteed ad servers; or 2) send the impression to an ad server responsible for real time bidding;   wherein if the guaranteed ad campaign is on track, the edge server receives updates generated by the controller to consider impressions for real time bidding of ads; and   wherein the if the guaranteed ad campaign is not on track, the edge server receives updates to consider impressions to be handled by the at least one guaranteed ad server;   wherein the edge server is not part of the offline campaign controller; and   wherein the edge server is not part of the at least one guaranteed ad servers.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein an individual web page includes ad tags supporting either real time bidding or a direct sold ad. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising the edge server generating optimization tags with floor bids passed o the ad server responsible for real time bidding, where a floor price is greater than the guaranteed price. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the offline controller comprises a separate server operating offline from the edge server and the at least one guaranteed ad server. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein if the campaign is not on track one or more parameters are updated to serve the ad segment via the at least one guaranteed ad servers. 
     
     
         17 . A system comprising:
 offline controller means for monitoring the on-time schedule indicator (OSI) of a direct sold campaign in at least one guaranteed ad server wherein the direct sold campaign has a guaranteed number of impressions at a guaranteed price, generating updates to configuration targeting parameters of the ad campaign in the at least one guaranteed ad server, and updating rules and campaign data for an edge server to determine whether to send an impression of an ad segment for real time bidding based on the OSI; and   edge server means to made decisions whether or not to pass impressions to the at least one guaranteed ad server or to an ad server responsible for real time bidding;   wherein if the guaranteed ad campaign is on track, real time bidding is performed for ad segments; and   wherein if the guaranteed ad campaign is not on track, ad segments are served via the at least one guaranteed ad server;   wherein the offline controller means is not part of the edge server means; and   wherein the offline controller means is not part of the at least one guaranteed ad servers.